An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic

by Daniel Mendelsohn

By the time you reach the end of the proem, you’re acutely aware of the discrepancy between the wealth and specificity of certain information you’ve received about this man and the gaps that remain, not the least of which, of course, is his name: a glaring omission, to say the least, in a passage whose purpose is to introduce him. Of course we know that “the man” is Odysseus; so why doesn’t Homer just say so? One possible answer to that question is that, by drawing attention to the tension between what he allows himself to say (“the man”) and what he knows and we know (Odysseus), the poet introduces an important theme that will continue to grow throughout his poem, which is: What is the difference between who we are and what others know about us? This tension between anonymity and identity will be a major element of the Odyssey’s plot. For its hero’s life will depend on his ability to conceal his identity from enemies—and to reveal it, when the proper time comes, to friends, to those by whom he wants to be recognized: first his son, then his wife, and finally his father.